Living With the Dead: This New Disease (Book 5) (41 page)

A
note from the author

Two
and a half years is a long time to work on any project. LWtD has been
an (almost) daily routine for me since March of 2010. I admit that at
times the blog felt like a weight on my shoulders. Not from any
dislike of writing it—nothing could be further from the
truth—but because I always carry the totality of the story in
my head. I occasionally live in a dark place when I write it. Many of
the people within are either real or based on real people I know, and
I do very bad things to them.
If you've read this far, then
you're done with this volume of the series. You probably guessed by
the last few posts (and maybe by my introduction at the very
beginning) that going forward, LWtD will take a slightly different
tone. There's a damn good reason for that:
I feel inspired.
The last few weeks of this season of the book were transformative for
me. I have made the decision to go full-time as a writer as soon as
possible, to risk much to gain much. As with every previous volume,
events herein mirrored my real life. I have suffered from depression
off and on for the last year and a half. I have missed out on time
with my friends and family. I've developed difficulties dealing with
large (even medium) groups of people.
Yet, the decision to go
full-time, no matter how long that takes to actually happen, took
much of that stress away. Knowing that relatively soon, I will be
doing the the work I love above all else at a pace unimaginable to me
at present, is amazing. Financially it will be tricky—which is
why it will take a good while to get there—but once I set
myself on the path to definitely do this, I felt awesome.
As
is my habit, I want to thank each and every one of you for reading. I
hope you'll forgive me for being all gushy, but you folks make this
worthwhile for me in ways I will never be able to fully explain. The
joy I get from interacting with my fans through email and Facebook,
and on my blogs themselves, keep me going. This note isn't so much
for me as it is for you. I wanted to give you something personal
about me, since you've been so kind to spend your time, money, and
imagination turning my little story into a vivid world in your minds.
Writing is an act of creation, but it only works in harmony. I give
you the raw materials...
But it's you, the reader, that makes
the magic. You give the characters flesh and faces. You give them
voice and life. Without you I would be a man singing only half a
song. So, once again (and always, in every volume and novel I
publish), I want to say thank you.
You've all made my dream
come true.
P.S.: I had planned on writing some short fiction
for this volume, but the thing ended up at a massive 113,000+ words,
and I've got other projects I'm working on as well. I really didn't
have time, though I promise to present something extra you'll enjoy
in the next one.